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want to be completely ruined. I had already, in '71 or '72, disposed of my weaving business, though at a fair loss, and this did not improve my reputation, for my need for cotton was thereby lessened, and my cotton-suppliers grew dissatisfied and surly. And so I had to pay my debts on the cotton all the sooner, and yet was even more incapable of doing so.

So one year sped after another. Sometimes my good spirit gave me fresh courage and new hope that I should be helped through these times. All too often, however, I fell back into dark dejection, and indeed to tell the truth, this was usually when a payment was due and I knew not where to turn. And since, as I have often said before, I thought it wrong to confide in another, in these hours of despondency I took refuge in reading and writing; I borrowed and rummaged through every book I could lay hands on, in the hope of finding some words relevant to my situation, set down every passing mood in black and white for half the night at a time, and always found relief whenever I could pour out my troubled heart onto the paper. There in writing I bemoaned my plight to my Father in heaven, entrusting all my affairs to Him, in the firm conviction that He intended nothing but the best for me, knew all there was to know about my circumstances, and would yet direct all things for good. Then my mind was fully determined to wait calmly for all things that should come to pass, no matter what should come, and in this frame of mind I always went to bed contented and slept like a king."

The Moral Society of Lichtensteig:

At this chapter in the autobiography Bräker reaches the events which heralded one of the great turning-points of his life: his enrolment in the Moralische Gesellschaft [Moral Society] of Lichtensteig. It should be noted that in chapter 71 he is telescoping events which happened over several years, he did not in fact join the Society until June 1776.

The Toggenburger Reformierte Moralische Gesellschaft [Protestant Moral Society of the Toggenburg] was founded in 1767. The moving spirit behind its foundation was Landschreiber [clerk to the magistrates] Andreas Giezendanner (1733-1797), a prominent citizen of Lichtensteig and a member of one of the wealthy local clans. The members were mainly clergymen, local government officials, members of the professions and businessmen [Chronik pp 479-480, Voellmy v 1 p 52]. There was an entry fee of five guilders, a large sum for a poor man like Bräker. The founding members were anxious to preserve the good reputation of their Society, and so were extremely selective in the election of new members. They had to be of good standing in the community and be able to contribute to its activities. They also had to be Protestants, but Böning (biog. p 102) says that this restriction was unusual. Possibly it was because no other Protestant institution of higher education existed in the Toggenburg at the time.

Their programme of activities was ambitious: the promotion of new scientific and economic ideas at all levels of society, particularly in agriculture and poor relief, and the abolition of superstition, hidebound thinking and immorality. In this the society was fairly typical of many such local societies founded in the later 18th century all over Europe. They carried out, for the professional classes, what we would now call higher or continuing education, in places where no higher education institutions existed, or where they did exist but were thought to be too outdated in their curriculum or teaching methods to serve those who wished to be "enlightened". These societies should not be confused with the numerous local foundations of the 19th century whose aim was to spread new ideas and skills in the new enterprises of the Industrial Revolution. The "Mechanics' Institutes", "technical high schools" and so on, were institutions for workers and managers, not the professional classes.

The Moral Society do not seem to have been in any great hurry to carry out their programme. There were eventually about forty members, who met annually on the Monday after the third Sunday after Easter, this being the day before the annual synod of the Protestant clergy. Papers

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